by Diane Dimond on December 5, 2011
A Jury Says He Killed Michael Jackson
You may not have been the least bit interested in the recent trial of Dr. Conrad Murray who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of entertainer Michael Jackson. He has now been sentenced to the maximum – four years behind bars for giving Jackson the hospital-only anesthesia Propofol in his home every night for at least two months.
Here’s why the case is important.
The case riveted doctors across the nation. Especially doctors in celebrity studded areas of the country like Los Angeles and New York, Aspen and Nashville, Atlanta and New Mexico where concerts and movie shoots attract some of the biggest divas in the entertainment business.
As the old Hollywood saying goes, “Where there’s a star there are drugs.” [click to continue…]
by Diane on August 31, 2009
Addicts Need Tough Love
Who is to blame when a drug addict dies?
We now know the L.A. County Coroner considers the death of Michael Jackson to have been a homicide caused by acute Propofol intoxication and the effects of five other powerful prescription drugs found in his system.
If the L.A. District Attorney chooses to charge Michael Jackson’s personal doctor, Conrad Murray, it could very well be for manslaughter.
Realistically speaking it was more like assisted suicide.
Michael Jackson had flooded his body with drugs for years. [click to continue…]
by Diane on July 27, 2009
Brains Reveal Secrets
Imagine the hushed, sterile atmosphere of an autopsy room. A body arrives and a team of forensic experts quietly gets to work to try to determine cause of death. Scientific evidence is gathered to determine whether a crime was committed to cause the death, whether it occurred from natural, unavoidable causes or if it was death by suicide.
In many cases, such as that of retired NFL quarterback Steve McNair, the cause of death is pretty obvious. McNair, was found sprawled on his condo’s couch, shot twice in the head and twice in the chest. Nearby was the dead body of his 20 year old mistress, a gun underneath her. It was quickly ruled a murder/suicide.
But other deaths are not so clear cut. Take the case of 50 year old infomercial scream-seller Billy Mays … [click to continue…]
by Diane on June 28, 2009
Paris and Prince sans Blanket
First, I must apologize for my absence from the written page for the last few days. I’ve been swamped with work following the death of Michael Jackson. As the author of a book about my investigative findings of his life I’ve been overwhelmed with requests for interviews and articles and OpEd columns. But THIS I had to stop and share with you. Grace Rwaramba has spoken, in an article in the London Times! In the world of Michael Jackson this is equivalence of a nuclear bomb going off. Grace Rwaramba the closest thing to a wife Michael Jackson ever had. When the children arrived it was Grace who was there to swaddle them, hold them, feed them and give them the only “Mother Figure” they’ve ever known. She was like a roommate to Michael Jackson for some 15 years – and was rewarded for her devotion, she says, by repeatedly being fired and rehired. When her lupus flared to an alarming degree she finally decided she would never go back. Now that the biological mother of the oldest two children, Debbie Rowe, says she doesn’t want custody Grace could have a shot at gaining custody of the kids. Or maybe the sperm donor (which Rowe now acknowledges) would come forward. (He is a long time friend/business acquaintance of both Jackson and Rowe) The bottom line to the immediate nuclear fallout here: Grace is finally confirming the bizarre, nomadic, delusional and dangerous way Michael Jackson lived his life. She also reveals that the matriarch of the family – Katherine Jackson – called her after Michael died to quiz her about “where the money was hidden.” Grace says there wasn’t any. The article is written by journalist Daphne Barack.
Grace Rwaramba, the Nanny, Spills Secrets
Grace was a witness to Jackson’s abuse of prescription drugs. She said he took a mixture of them — in her words, “he always ate too little and mixed too much”. “I had to pump his stomach many times . . . He always mixed so much of it. There was one period that it was so bad that I didn’t let the children see him.” She claims he was furious with her for getting his mother and sister Janet to help. “We tried to do an intervention. It was me, Janet, his mother. I co-ordinated it. He was so angry with me. “He screamed at me, ‘You betrayed my trust. You called them behind my back.’ I told him, ‘Michael I didn’t betray your trust. I try to help you.’ But he didn’t want to listen. That was one of the times he let me go.” via What nanny who worked for Michael Jackson saw – Times Online.
UPDATE FOR THE RECORD:
Grace Rwaramba has issued a partial denial to the above story. Most specifically she denies ever having pumped Michael Jackson’s stomach. Her statement, issued on the web site of a friend, also denies she ever spoke to the Times of London.com. But the story posted there is NOT from a Times of London reporter it was written under the by-line of freelance journalist Daphne Barack. It is interesting to note in her statement Rwaramba does not deny other major portions of the story by Barack. Most notably she does not deny Jackson’s rampant drug abuse.
by Diane on June 28, 2009
Now What For the Jackson Kids?
The moment the news leaked out that an ambulance had taken Michael Jackson away from his L.A. area rental home my life exploded, returning to the whirling mess that it was during all those years I investigated the Jackson story. The computer blew up with e-mails, my Blackberry chirped non stop. CNN, FOX, MSNBC, CBS, The Today Show, The Early Show, magazines, newspapers – everyone wanted a comment. It was the news I knew I’d live to broadcast and write about. Michael Jackson’s life became oddly enter-twined with mine back in August of 1993 [click to continue…]
